AS former Health Secretary, you’d expect Matt Hancock to know all about nutrition, rest and recovery.
And it sounds like the shamed MP really put that learning into practise while toiling in the Vietnamese jungle for SAS: Who Dares Wins.
While his cast mates were struggling on the meagre rations, they have claimed Matt snuck himself extra portions of food.
Model Danielle Lloyd said: “There were times when it came to the food and he would get like a big mass of food and take more than one portion.
As fellow recruit Perri Shakes-Drayton nodded in agreement, Danielle added: “I was fuming but didn’t say anything.”
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Comic Zoe Lyons said: “There were times when I did look at his dish, and think, ‘Yeah, yeah.’
“Nobody ever mentioned it but over the course of the day, you do start to notice people’s traits.
“The food was awful. There was just enough to go around to everyone.
“There were no seconds, so if you’ve taken your seconds with your firsts, you know what I’m saying? There’s a reason why there were no seconds.”
It wasn’t just grub that Matt, who filmed for the Channel 4 show before he took on I’m A Celebrity, smuggled - with the sticky tape used by physios to support ailing muscles also in his sights.
Zoe added: “He always seemed to have all the medical tape.
“Like, ‘where’s the medical tape? Matt’s got the medical tape? He’s got ALL the medical tape? He only gives it to his friends… Alright, fair enough’.”
It was a rough ride for Matt, with him pelted by insults and the first to take dressing down by the Directing Staff in the interrogation room.
He’s branded “a f***ing ostrich” and “a complete and utter buffoon.”
And, grilling Matt about his affair with an aide during lockdown, DS Chris Oliver yells: “The rules that we had established as a country to follow, you think - you know what? I’m above this.
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“You thought, f*** this - I’m going to have a bit of that. I’ll break the rules here, I’ll break the rules there.”
It’s a far cry from the gentle ribbing he faced Down Under.
- Watch as Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins returns on September 26 at 9pm on Channel 4.
AJ READY WITH BIG MOUTH
IN Big Brother’s heyday, the crowds that gathered on eviction night were notoriously vocal.
But new host AJ Odudu has a plan ready to deal with even the rowdiest of fans when ITV2’s reboot hits our screens next month.
The main show will be presented by AJ and Will Best, with Marcus Bentley returning as the narrator.
AJ told the Off Menu podcast: “Crowd control with me is . . . just be louder than the crowd.
“I feel like I’m very equipped for that role, I’ve never been described as quiet.
“Body language, do you know what I mean? Sometimes you have to look at someone and go, come on.”
We’ve come a long way since Davina McCall’s “please do not swear”.
DATING show Blue Therapy was such a hit for Channel 4 on YouTube, the second series has been promoted to E4.
Love & Toxic: Blue Therapy will follow five couples undergoing relationship counselling.
It will premiere on YouTube at 6pm and E4 at 10pm on October 5.
MICHAEL: GREAT TO BE BACK
MICHAEL McIntyre is back with game-show favourite The Wheel Saturday night.
But he is also thrilling fans of his live performances, having this month starting a first major tour in five years.
And it has felt like a long wait for the comic, who fronts The Wheel on BBC One at 8.35pm.
Michael tells TV Mag, free in Saturday’s Sun: “It is just so exciting to be back. First of all, I love being around people who I know really like me, which is what in essence an audience is.
“That’s such a great room to be in. That already makes me feel amazing.
“During the pandemic, on a personal level I wondered whether I could do this again.
“To be back doing a full tour makes me appreciate it so much more.
“I have worked really hard on the show and am really proud of it.
“It’s evolving every night.”
LATEST PEEP SHOW
THESE dazzling dancers mean business in new reality show called Strip.
The Paramount+ series takes a peek inside the world of high-end strippers working in the hottest club on the Las Vegas strip.
A TV source said: “Taking us on a journey to Sin City, Strip follows twelve women onstage, backstage and outside the club, all determined to be the best in the business.
“It’s a world of fierce competition, eye-popping outfits and mind-blowing dancing, but with 20,000 strippers in Las Vegas, it’s a war out there.”
Dancers at the Crazy Horse III Gentlemen’s Club can make six figure sums in a single night.
Viewers will meet the likes of Amber, 26, who gave up studying medicine for the gig, and Baby, 30, who dances to provide for her children.
Strip airs on October 1, exclusively on Paramount+ in the UK.
MIRIAM’S CASH FOR HER CARE
MIRIAM Margolyes has a lot on her plate with a new book, live tour and her debut on Doctor Who voicing alien Meep The Beep.
But she has now revealed the real reason for staying so busy at 82.
Miriam said at industry event FANE on Wednesday: “Soon I’m going to be in a wheelchair because I’ve got spinal stenosis, I’ve got all kinds of things wrong with me, and I’m going to need a carer and carers are expensive.
“So that’s why I’m trying to make as much money now as I possibly can.
“I’m still working, I’m often in pain, I have a leaky bladder, I’ve got asthma, I’ve got osteoporosis.
“But I’m still here and you just have to do the best you can.”
BBC Three’s tractor-racing show The Fast And The Farmer-ish is back for a second series.
Hosted by Tom Pemberton, rival teams battle it out in a paddock in Ballymoney, County Antrim.
It launches on October 1 at 9pm and Tom said: “We throw absolutely everything at our teams.”
BERCOW AMONG TRAITORS
FORMER House of Commons Speaker John Bercow has signed up for his first reality TV gig – The Traitors US.
The ex-politician will be competing to root out the good and bad alongside a string of American television personalities during the psychological game show.
But there will be one more famous face from this side of the Atlantic – Love Island great Ekin-Su Culculoglu.
It marks the 2022 dating show winner’s first TV appearance Stateside.
The unlikely duo are in the cast of 21, which includes celebrities from shows including Big Brother US, Real Housewives and Dancing With The Stars.
Alan Cumming is back as host and the star-studded series will once again be filmed in the same Scottish castle as the award-winning British version presented by Claudia Winkleman on BBC One.
